– Mstislav Rostropovich has passed away. One of my favorite pieces of his is his interpretation of Dvorak's Cello Concerto, especially movement three, for it's lyric anguish and his amazingly fluid play of the cello in it. Imagine my surprise that someone had uploaded some video of a performance of this piece. Consider this a token of admiration for a man whose life was dedicated to perfecting his art, and to helping others to move their own artistic interests forward as well. Just a beautiful piece of music, beautifully played, and such a loss of a great musical icon.

– MSNBC reports that President Bush is serving the Japanese Prime Minister cheeseburgers for lunch at Camp David today. No further comment required.

– The Democratic Caucus has Harry Reid's back today in a letter to the editor to the WaPo. I've confirmed that this includes Sanders and Lieberman in the signing. (Cue the discussion of how Lieberman can continue to publicly stab Reid and the Dems in the back on policy, but wag his scoldy finger at someone else doing the same. Welcome to the club, David Broder. Enjoy basking in the sanctimony.) In any case, this was a good move — any pushing forward of a spine is, frankly, a welcome development. So kudos to whomever in the Democratic caucus thought of this and got the ball rolling. More unified strength in action, please.

– And just when I thought that I could not be more disgusted with the Bush Administration…I get more disgusted. Read Scout Prime and prepare to be seriously annoyed. Because, gosh, the folks in the Gulf Coast region should just be happy the President went down there for a klieg light speech and some subsequent photo ops when his poll numbers are sagging. It's not as though they are Americans who have been promised help or anything by the federal government. Oh…wait…

UPDATE: Meant to link this but missed it somehow with all of my open windows — huge thank you to AZ Matt for the reminder. If it's Friday, it's another DoJ docu-dump. The House Judiciary Committee has the links.

update yer goddamn glenn greenwald link on yer goddamn blogroll you beautiful babblers by the fiery lake where the loony birds soar and the blooms bud a beauty beyond basic comprehension oh my frickin’gawd so much depends upon a red wheel barrow like link glazed with firedog like rain water beside the rainbowed chickenshit dem palaces where hope means the world is like, maybe, decent …oh the bedlam, the tragedy, the unmitigated gall bladder, the news of the day, the acres of mary ann gerbersteens and soda pop goes the red state weasels and goddamn dissipation and broken broken broken linkage rodney frickin king me to death!!!~!~!

Does anyone know anything about the USA in the Southern district of NY, Michael Garcia? He just dropped the insider trading case against Bill Frist. I haven’t heard much about the Frist case, lately, until today.

thersitz at 4 — You know what? We’ll get around to it when Jane feels up to it. Chemo has a tendency to make things like updating your blogroll links a little further down the list of things to do, ya know?

Mr. Tenet says he decided to write the memoir in part because the infamous “slam dunk” episode had come to define his tenure at C.I.A.

He gives a detailed account of the episode, which occurred during an Oval Office meeting in December 2002 when the administration was preparing to make public its case for war against Iraq.

During the meeting, the deputy C.I.A. director, John McLaughlin, unveiled a draft of a proposed public presentation that left the group unimpressed. Mr. Tenet recalls that Mr. Bush suggested that they could “add punch” by bringing in lawyers trained to argue cases before a jury.

“I told the president that strengthening the public presentation was a ‘slam dunk,’ a phrase that was later taken completely out of context,” Mr. Tenet writes. “If I had simply said, ‘I’m sure we can do better,’ I wouldn’t be writing this chapter — or maybe even this book.”

This has been discussed in the previous thread a little but I think it is really huge and needs more focus. The failure of the Generals

This Lt Col. writes:

Having spent a decade preparing to fight the wrong war, America’s generals then miscalculated both the means and ways necessary to succeed in Iraq. The most fundamental military miscalculation in Iraq has been the failure to commit sufficient forces to provide security to Iraq’s population. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) estimated in its 1998 war plan that 380,000 troops would be necessary for an invasion of Iraq. Using operations in Bosnia and Kosovo as a model for predicting troop requirements, one Army study estimated a need for 470,000 troops. Alone among America’s generals, Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki publicly stated that “several hundred thousand soldiers” would be necessary to stabilize post-Saddam Iraq. Prior to the war, President Bush promised to give field commanders everything necessary for victory. Privately, many senior general officers both active and retired expressed serious misgivings about the insufficiency of forces for Iraq. These leaders would later express their concerns in tell-all books such as “Fiasco” and “Cobra II.” However, when the U.S. went to war in Iraq with less than half the strength required to win, these leaders did not make their objections public.

He continues to state that the failures was that of the Generals. However, at the time of the discussion of going into Iraq any General who dared to point out the inadequacy of Rummy’s plan was pushed aside. True, the remaining Generals failed to push home the true requirements for invading Iraq but the real failure was not in the General Staff but the political and media discussion that ignored the advice of the most senior and seasoned military staff. Blaming the generals is too easy on Bush/Cheney and the other rabid neo-cons

Mr. Tenet hints at some score-settling in the book. He describes in particular the extraordinary tension between him and Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, and her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, in internal debate over how the president came to say erroneously in his 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa.

He describes an episode in 2003, shortly after he issued a statement taking partial responsibility for that error. He said he was invited over for a Sunday afternoon, back-patio lemonade by Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state. Mr. Powell described what Mr. Tenet called “a lively debate” on Air Force One a few days before about whether the White House should continue to support Mr. Tenet as C.I.A. director.

“In the end, the president said yes, and said so publicly,” Mr. Tenet wrote. “But Colin let me know that other officials, particularly the vice president, had quite another view.”

So here’s a geeky question – how come some people see comment numbers differently than me? Christy has Matt @9 talking about DOJ dump; I have him at 10…

I mean, no need to have Waxman get into it, but am curious…

Sometimes, a comment is submitted that later gets removed — two of the usual suspects are a spam that missed the filters, or a troll that later gets swatted.

If you came to the thread early, the errant comment showed up for you and stays there as long as you “refresh comments.” If you reload the whole page, however, that comment will disappear and the numbers will adjust.

(If you come to the thread late, you never saw that comment in the first place.)

thersitz at 4 — You know what? We’ll get around to it when Jane feels up to it. Chemo has a tendency to make things like updating your blogroll links a little further down the list of things to do, ya know?

I think it’s somewhere after “save the constitution” and “restore the rule of law.”

Tenet said the hardest part has been listening to Cheney and others repeat the phrase [slam dunk]. ‘I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. ‘Look at the idiot (who) told us and we decided to go to war.’ Well, let’s not be so disingenuous,’ he said.

I decided to take Tenet’s advice and would just like to point out that it took him 3 years and only after he wrote a book and had begun to flog it that he came up with his manufactured outrage, not you know while thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. You see, George, I can see through disingenuous too.

So here’s a geeky question – how come some people see comment numbers differently than me? Christy has Matt @9 talking about DOJ dump; I have him at 10…

I mean, no need to have Waxman get into it, but am curious…

Sometimes, a comment is submitted that later gets removed — two of the usual suspects are a spam that missed the filters, or a troll that later gets swatted.

If you came to the thread early, the errant comment showed up for you and stays there as long as you “refresh comments.” If you reload the whole page, however, that comment will disappear and the numbers will adjust.

(If you come to the thread late, you never saw that comment in the first place.)

Thanks, Peterr. Will now move on in my insatiable quest for knowledge.

Tenet said the hardest part has been listening to Cheney and others repeat the phrase [slam dunk]. ‘I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. ‘Look at the idiot (who) told us and we decided to go to war.’ Well, let’s not be so disingenuous,’ he said.

I decided to take Tenet’s advice and would just like to point out that it took him 3 years and only after he wrote a book and had begun to flog it that he came up with his manufactured outrage, not you know while thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. You see, George, I can see through disingenuous too.

The braying ex-mayor claims a Democrat in the White House will mean more terror attacks, but he’s just trying to hide from his own 9/11 mistakes.

By Joe Conason
…
Giuliani’s endorsement of the strategic disasters in Iraq and Guantanamo raises serious questions about his judgment. His broader assertions about the war on terrorism, such as the infallibility of his leadership and the overall supremacy of Republicans, simply won’t withstand scrutiny. Having entwined himself so inextricably with Bush, he will have to answer for the president’s failures as well as his own, both before and after 9/11 — the tragedy that provides the only conceivable rationale for his candidacy.
…

Christy thank you for linking. Here’s just a few additional facts for some perspective on Bush’s refusal to waive the 10% match requirement for the Gulf Coast…

*Under the law Bush is allowed to waive the matching requirement when the per capita cost of a recovery bill exceeds $65.

*In Louisiana the per capita recovery cost is at $6,700 so far.

*The matching requirement was waived when the recovery cost of Hurricane Andrew reached $139 per capita.

*It was waived for New York when 9/11 cost per capita reached $390.

*The matching requirement has been eliminated 32 times since 1985 for other disaster recoveries.

*Louisiana has already paid back $400 million as required under the Stafford Act, more than any other state has ever had to do for disaster recovery. The state still faces paying an estimated $1 billion more.

This is to say nothing of the inane notion that there is something “controversial” about Clinton’s appearance at FDL. Has [Mary Ann] Akers noticed that one of the President and Vice President’s favorite venues for appearing and chatting amicably is The Rush Limbaugh Show, and that among their favorite “interviewers” is Sean Hannity? And virtually all Republican candidates make themselves available to the most extremist right-wing blogs.

By contrast, FDL is one of the most accomplished and widely respected political blogs in the country, with a daily readership of 100,000 or so highly committed Democratic activists and voters. What ought to be “controversial” is if Hillary Clinton and other candidates fail to appear in such venues to answer questions, not when they do. The day after Clinton appeared, John Kerry posted at FDL and then participated in comments as well, as have scores of the most prominent Democrats and liberal activists over the last year.

What much of this is about is a rank, transparent effort to make liberal blogs radioactive to candidates. Journalists like Akers are threatened by the fact that candidates can communicate directly with large numbers of voters without having to go through Washington Post reporters. So they manufacture blog “controversies” by seeking out completely unrepresentative aberrations like Dan Gerstein and pretend that their individual comments are representative of large factions. In reality, people like Gerstein are totally irrelevant figures who represent literally nobody (except, in Gerstein’s case, non-Democrat Joe Lieberman).

Tenet said the hardest part has been listening to Cheney and others repeat the phrase [slam dunk]. ‘I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. ‘Look at the idiot (who) told us and we decided to go to war.’ Well, let’s not be so disingenuous,’ he said.
————

I decided to take Tenet’s advice and would just like to point out that it took him 3 years and only after he wrote a book and had begun to flog it that he came up with his manufactured outrage, not you know while thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. You see, George, I can see through disingenuous too.
————

Mistakes were made…..

Dante had a circle in hell, I think it was for the passionate, where they were blown and buffeted by the winds of those passions. I can see a similar fate for Tenet, Bremer, Franks, and actually quite a few other Republican politicians where the wind blowing them about is their own blowhard words and protestations.

Mr. Tenet says he decided to write the memoir in part because the infamous “slam dunk” episode had come to define his tenure at C.I.A.

He gives a detailed account of the episode, which occurred during an Oval Office meeting in December 2002 when the administration was preparing to make public its case for war against Iraq.

During the meeting, the deputy C.I.A. director, John McLaughlin, unveiled a draft of a proposed public presentation that left the group unimpressed. Mr. Tenet recalls that Mr. Bush suggested that they could “add punch” by bringing in lawyers trained to argue cases before a jury.

“I told the president that strengthening the public presentation was a ‘slam dunk,’ a phrase that was later taken completely out of context,” Mr. Tenet writes. “If I had simply said, ‘I’m sure we can do better,’ I wouldn’t be writing this chapter — or maybe even this book.”

Does anyone know anything about the USA in the Southern district of NY, Michael Garcia? He just dropped the insider trading case against Bill Frist. I haven’t heard much about the Frist case, lately, until today.

Yes, the two top people in ICE at this moment are legacy Customs, but let’s rewind to the very beginning of this debacle, and see what kind of mess their predecessors left behind for Clark and Forman to pick up.

Michael Garcia: Legacy INS. All he lived, breathed, knew, ate, drank and slept were legacy INS issues; he could have cared less about drugs, money, weapons, etc. Now mix in his henchman, Michael Doherty, brought up through the legacy INS ranks to remind the legacy Customs folks of a “new sheriff in town”; Doherty, from most spoken to at HQ, was singularly one of the most feared and hated people in the new ICE: not a personality you’d necessarily want as a leader.

[snip]

By the way, where are those that had the helm at the beginning of this mess now? USAO for SDNY? Private sector with 6-7 figure salaries? Hmmmm, do tell….

In fact, I’m not sure that anyone short of G-d himself, much less Clark or Forman, can get us out of this mess now.

Pathetic, shameful and disgraceful.

Special Agent
DHS/ICE

[PS - Holy shite, Lake folk! Looking around the blog is like laparoscopy on an abscess. Lot of angry immune system actors, swimming in chaos.

Unlike phagocytes, these folks go to work wearing guns and Federal badges.

Why does Tenet think his book rehabilitates his reputation? If anything, he’s more despicable than ever. He kept his mouth shut and let this country go to war when he knew the leaders were lying. And he says the misquote enraged him because it made him look like an idiot?????? Talk about misplaced anger. How about being enraged because of all the deaths and injuries from this war? Just like Powell, he had his chance to do the right thing and he failed.

What I find very disturbing is the apparent concerted effort to politicize a terrorist attack in the future.

The Democratic response to 9/11 wasn’t to say Bush let it happen and lay the blame on Bush…But there is now a concerted campaign to lay the blame at the feet of a Democratic president if one were to happen again.

– Mstislav Rostropovich has passed away. One of my favorite pieces of his is his interpretation of Dvorzak’s Cello Concerto, especially movement three, for it’s lyric anguish and his amazingly fluid play of the cello in it.

So the Liebercrats stew in bitterness, angry that their efforts to control the Dems have failed miserably. Gerstein is probably extra peeved because Hillary is the sole remaining DLC representative in the presidential field, and to have her blog on the site that most tormented Lieberman (the DLC’s patron saint) in 2006 adds insult to injury.

Put me on the list of those with zero sympathy for George Tenet. If you’re going to get that upset about being tossed overboard, perhaps you should ask yourself why you were on that particular ship of fools to begin with. Oh, and give the damn medal back. Your rationalization that you got the medal for your work on terrorism as opposed to your work on Iraq is just nauseating. I’ll watch the “60 Minutes” clip, but I’m more interested in your under-oath testimony. I’ll pass on plunking down cash for the book, thank you very much.

Worse, Gerstein continues to be paid by Lieberman. When it comes to Gerstein’s criticisms of liberal blogs, that is an obviously crucial fact which Akers — just as by The Politico did when trying to create an anti-blog controversy in reliance on Gerstein — inexcusably concealed from her readers. Akers (just as The Politico did) even misleadingly referred to Gerstein as “a former Lieberman spokesman.”

(snip)

More significantly still, Gerstein hates blogs because blogs defeated his mentor in the Connecticut primary and continuously criticized Gerstein himself. So not only are Gerstein’s anti-blog views aberrational, they are also the by-product of his own personal vendetta, not any thought-out ideas or beliefs. Basing anti-blog stories on comments from Dan Gerstein would be like writing a negative profile of Patrick Fitzgerald based on interviews done with Lewis Libby and his lawyers.

Put me on the list of those with zero sympathy for George Tenet. If you’re going to get that upset about being tossed overboard, perhaps you should ask yourself why you were on that particular ship of fools to begin with. Oh, and give the damn medal back. Your rationalization that you got the medal for your work on terrorism as opposed to your work on Iraq is just nauseating. I’ll watch the “60 Minutes” clip, but I’m more interested in your under-oath testimony. I’ll pass on plunking down cash for the book, thank you very much.

Tenet is a “has been” and no amount of his self-serving clarification can rehabilitate his reputation. Of course the MSM would like to promote his rehabilitation because it validates the notion that no matter how wrong one has been or what crimes of ommission or commission one has perpetrated there is no need for accountability. After all it’s all just part of how the game is played. The last thing the MSM wants is to see the Bush Regime held accountable because so many of those in the MSM have been complicit and compromised.

It definitely is a sign of the times when the former head of the secret police is coming out against Dear Leader and cronies … I don’t expect to have much sympathy w/ people who should really be jailed for war crimes …

After watching Bill Moyers incredible documentarypbs.org link on the MSM’s failings in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. I thought about how critical it is for Moyers or someone with his integrity to do a program on what the same MSM has allowed the “cakewalk in Iraq” liars to get away with having to do with Iran’s “alleged” let me repeat “alleged” nuclear weapons program.

The last three years I have heard the same “cakewalk in Iraq” folks repeating these claims all over the MSM. Kristol, Kristol, Daniel Pipes, Cheney, Ledeen, Perle all repeating that Iran has nuclear weapons.

Polls now report that 70% of Americans believe that Iran posesses Nuclear weapons! This belief did not happen via osmosis.

The only mainstreamer that I have heard seriously and consistently challenge these claims is MSNBC’S CHRIS MATTHEWS. Sorry folks but this MSMer has been challenging the “cakewalk in Iraq” folks on the air.

Iaea’s Mr. El Baradei has stated that there is no hard evidence to back up these claimsnci.orgnti.org

El Baradei has said that Iran is years away from being able to produce nuclear weapons if at all! He has also asked for the inflammatory rhetoric to be turned way down! Kristol, Cheney, Ledeen, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Olmert just do not want to listen!

Let’s all contact Moyerspbs.org and ask him to do a program on what has taken place in the media in regard to the claims being made about Iran. At present time documentary. Help trump a pre-emptive and illegal attack on Iran!

Just this week on the Diane Rehms show a congressman made the statement that Iran has nuclear weapons, Diane did not challenge this statement. During the recent Democratic Debate Senator Obama said to Congressman Kucinich that “there is not one expert that disputes that Iran is after a nuclear weapons program”. This is a lie!

Cheney has made these claims about Iran many times the last three years. Several months ago on Meet the Press when Cheney was going on and on about Iran’s nuclear weapons plans Russert did not ask “where is the hard evidence”. Russert asked “how can we stop them”. Ouch Russert do you have to ask such tough questions?

Ask Moyers to do a present time piece on how the very same media has allowed these unsubstantiated claims to be repeated about Iran. The MSM should have been and should be challenging these claims.

Otherwise Moyers could be doing a special in two years about how the MSM did not do their jobs prior to the pre-emptive strike on Iran. “
CALL CONTACT MOYERS ASK HIM TO DO A SHOW ABOUT THE MEDIA AND IRAN! DEJA VU!

This is just a rhetorical question, because I already know that the network brass could give a shit about this, but does anyone ever stop to consider the impact that all of this moronic tabloid reporting has on the kids involved in these celebrity custody spats? Jeebus, just when I think the ANS thing is winding down, up pops the McGreeveys and the Basinger/Baldwin mess. Is it my business? Hell no. And I’d hope that at some point someone at one of the networks would say to themselves that the benefit of publicizing this is substantially outweighed by the horrible impact that this has to have on the kids. Jeebus.

EW has that covered at The Next Hurrah. Seems he was using a Blackberry and there are records of his e-mails that cover his rear.

Thanks. The whole USA scandal has made it an almost reuqirement to question the USA’s actions in any case. AGAG’s shadow hangs over all 93 USAs and every case they are involved in. No case can now be tried without asking the motives of the attorney.

Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!

Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!

this is a very dangerous time… bushco is going down and they’ll act like cornered rats … we have to watch the iran situation very carefully over the next months.

– Mstislav Rostropovich has passed away. One of my favorite pieces of his is his interpretation of Dvorzak’s Cello Concerto, especially movement three, for it’s lyric anguish and his amazingly fluid play of the cello in it.

Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!

Gen. Petraeus was pushing the Iran/Syria nexus in his latest speech…..Not to mention the rumors of more war between Israel and Hezbollah coming this summer….amid the rumors that the Iranians are arming the Taliban.

April 27,2007 | NASSAU, Bahamas — A Bahamian court cleared the way Friday for Anna Nicole Smith’s ex-boyfriend to leave the island chain with their infant daughter, rejecting an appeal by the mother of the former reality TV star.

The judge ruled that a court in the United State would likely have the final say in the custody dispute between Virgie Arthur and Larry Birkhead, who was confirmed as the 7-month-old baby’s father after undergoing DNA testing.

“Polls now report that 70% of Americans believe that Iran posesses Nuclear weapons! This belief did not happen via osmosis.”

It’s really quite frustrating and sad to see how the American public is so easily manipulated. They are like marionettes dancing to whatever tune the regime and the MSM dictates. In a biography I’m reading on A. Hitler and the rise of the Nazi’s it struck me that Hitler’s popular support never averaged more than 30% for the country overall in 1933, the year he came to power. Why does that 30% figure stand out?

Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!

Dont’be daft! cheny in his bunker has SO MUCH MORE accurate information than Mohamed el Baradei and his ON-SITE INSPECTORS in Iran. CBS newsroom prolly does not know how to get on-line and look at any of a a couple of hundred blog sites, let alone check on any number of much less tainted news sources. Anyone ever check on the ‘Asia Times’, Al Jazeera or Dar Al Hayet? The BBC does a reasonable job too…….

– Henry Waxman’s Government Oversight Committee has invited George Tenet to testify before the Committee on May 10th regarding the Niger/uranium claims and other blurred intelligence questions. (H/T to TiredFed for the link.) With a book to sell, this could get quite interesting from Tenet.

you know, way back when it was reported tenet said it was ” a slam dunk” regarding weapons of mass destruction that he was saying “it was a slam dunk that we can convince the public”

bush had said the public wouldn’t buy it and tenet said “it was a slam dunk”

cheney and bush trot out that quoate as if it means he said “it’s a slam dunk he has weapons” which is not what he meant

I beleive he is going to try to reclaim his honor and at the hearings he can go pretty far doing that

This is just a rhetorical question, because I already know that the network brass could give a shit about this, but does anyone ever stop to consider the impact that all of this moronic tabloid reporting has on the kids involved in these celebrity custody spats? Jeebus, just when I think the ANS thing is winding down, up pops the McGreeveys and the Basinger/Baldwin mess. Is it my business? Hell no. And I’d hope that at some point someone at one of the networks would say to themselves that the benefit of publicizing this is substantially outweighed by the horrible impact that this has to have on the kids. Jeebus.

Isn’t interesting that the AG’s office thought that John Solomon’s story on the USAO scandal was “far and away the best story” on the subject? Good ol’ John Solomon — prepared to scribble down whatever story the Administration feeds him.

Unlike most of us, George Tenet did have the power to significantly alter the discussion and debate on the Iraq War before it happened. He chose not to exercise it. End of sympathy discussion.

Absofuckinglutely! Don’t feel sorry for any bastard who could have changed the course of things before we went into Iraq. When I think about the death and destruction that has occurred it makes me so angry. Tennet gets ZERO sympathy.

Thankyou Christy for the music. Rostropovich was a hero of mine for so many years, as I am a (bad) cellist. Many years ago late on a hot summer evening at the Edinburgh Festival I heard him and Sviatislav Richter play the entire set of Beethoven Sonatas at one go. Simply the greatest musical experience of my life.

According to the Bush administration, schools should be judged by the students performance. Schools and adminstrators should have benchmarks that they have to meet and if they fail the school will be closed down.

BUT

When discussing the situation in Iraq, setting up benchmarks is akin to setting up for failure and closing down the war is a sign of defeat.

Why does Bush contradict his own logic? If Bush refuses to “cut and run” in the war on terror, why is he so hasty to cut and run out on America’s children? If benchmarks are important indications of success in the “war on ignorance” why are they not helpful in evaluating the War in Iraq?

“Polls now report that 70% of Americans believe that Iran posesses Nuclear weapons! This belief did not happen via osmosis.”

It’s really quite frustrating and sad to see how the American public is so easily manipulated. They are like marionettes dancing to whatever tune the regime and the MSM dictates. In a biography I’m reading on A. Hitler and the rise of the Nazi’s it struck me that Hitler’s popular support never averaged more than 30% for the country overall in 1933, the year he came to power. Why does that 30% figure stand out?

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The euro climbed to an all-time high against the dollar Friday as weak U.S. growth figures reinforced fears of a widening economic disparity between Europe and the United States.

The surge will not be kind to Americans visiting Europe this summer, who will pay more for hotel rooms in Rome, entrance fees at the Louvre and chocolates in Belgium.

Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!

Gen. Petraeus was pushing the Iran/Syria nexus in his latest speech…..Not to mention the rumors of more war between Israel and Hezbollah coming this summer….amid the rumors that the Iranians are arming the Taliban.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The euro climbed to an all-time high against the dollar Friday as weak U.S. growth figures reinforced fears of a widening economic disparity between Europe and the United States.

The surge will not be kind to Americans visiting Europe this summer, who will pay more for hotel rooms in Rome, entrance fees at the Louvre and chocolates in Belgium.

(snip)

The declining value of the dollar causes the US to pay more for impored oil since it is priced in dollars. Yet another economic gift from the MBA Preznit.

Big kudos to Greenwald. That just shows how the blogosphere doesn’t have to take junk from anyone and can slap back with a vengeance. And now that it’s out there let’s see the other blog big dogs tear that lame story apart on Jane and FDL’s behalf. How dare they?

But it just shows how horrendous the Lieberlame world is. He’s not worthy of a single microsecond of slack for signing the Harry Reid support letter–he should be thanking his lucky stars that Reid hasn’t gone after him, too busy trading punches with Bush.

“Polls now report that 70% of Americans believe that Iran posesses Nuclear weapons! This belief did not happen via osmosis.”

It’s really quite frustrating and sad to see how the American public is so easily manipulated. They are like marionettes dancing to whatever tune the regime and the MSM dictates. In a biography I’m reading on A. Hitler and the rise of the Nazi’s it struck me that Hitler’s popular support never averaged more than 30% for the country overall in 1933, the year he came to power. Why does that 30% figure stand out?

Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!

Dont’be daft! cheny in his bunker has SO MUCH MORE accurate information than Mohamed el Baradei and his ON-SITE INSPECTORS in Iran. CBS newsroom prolly does not know how to get on-line and look at any of a a couple of hundred blog sites, let alone check on any number of much less tainted news sources. Anyone ever check on the ‘Asia Times’, Al Jazeera or Dar Al Hayet? The BBC does a reasonable job too…….

The “cakewalk in Iraq” warmongers started beating the Iranian war drum immediately after the invasion of Iraq. More subtle,(the other day on the Rehms show the Congressman just said it and it went unnoticed and unchallenged). Now Kristol and Ledeen are far more out loud repeating these unsubstantiated claims. Come on 70% of Americans now believe that Iran all ready posesses nuclear weapons. As you described it sounds as if Katie Couric is doing the Bush administrations work for them. I have heard many others, Russert being one of them.

Where is El Baradei on these programs? Where are the weapons inspectors? Where is Flynt Leverett the middle east expert who resigned from the Bush administration because he disagreed with the invasion of Iraq. Flynt Leverett should be all over these shows addressing these unsubstantiated claims about Iran. Check out what Flynt has to say about Iran http://www.newamerica.net/even…..ith_tehran

We do have General Wesley Clark, General Zinni, Flynt Leverett, Madeline Albright, Zbigniew Brezinski and many more pushing demanding that the Bush administration use diplomacy in regard to Iran. But if you read Perle and the Wurmsers manifesto “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm or really spend some time reading the defense strategies at Project for a New American Centuryhttp://www.newamericancentury.org/ one knows that the regime plan change is not over for this group of the most right wing radicals that our nation has ever witnessed.

Bluetoe @
84
Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!
————

Gen. Petraeus was pushing the Iran/Syria nexus in his latest speech…..Not to mention the rumors of more war between Israel and Hezbollah coming this summer….amid the rumors that the Iranians are arming the Taliban.

-GSD

I got the shit slapped out of me for a “rumor” last week.

I should have said among the neo-con rags reports…instead of rumor.

However there is talk in the Israeli media that Syria is girding for war…..Make of it what you will. Sounds like lots of pretexts being laid down by the usual suspects for the usual end goals of war.

Put me on the list of those with zero sympathy for George Tenet. If you’re going to get that upset about being tossed overboard, perhaps you should ask yourself why you were on that particular ship of fools to begin with. Oh, and give the damn medal back. Your rationalization that you got the medal for your work on terrorism as opposed to your work on Iraq is just nauseating. I’ll watch the “60 Minutes” clip, but I’m more interested in your under-oath testimony. I’ll pass on plunking down cash for the book, thank you very much.

You will likely be as amused as I was when I requested a reserve on Tenant’s new book at my local library. The librarian smiled and said something to the effect that the book must not be selling very well cause her reserve list looked like a record-breaker….made my morning.
I hasten to add our little village only has roughly 2,500 of us full time residesnts. I’ll never forgive Tenant for the smirky pain on his face when Bush put a medal of honor around his neck.

“Polls now report that 70% of Americans believe that Iran posesses Nuclear weapons! This belief did not happen via osmosis.”

It’s really quite frustrating and sad to see how the American public is so easily manipulated. They are like marionettes dancing to whatever tune the regime and the MSM dictates. In a biography I’m reading on A. Hitler and the rise of the Nazi’s it struck me that Hitler’s popular support never averaged more than 30% for the country overall in 1933, the year he came to power. Why does that 30% figure stand out?

An if we do not hammer the MSM about not doing their fucking jobs (Matthews is on this issue). Moyers and all of us will be looking back asking why the hell did the media let these unsubstantiated claims be endlessly repeated about Iran.

“The president did wrestle with those very serious questions,” Dan Bartlett said.

Bartlett went on to say, “First, he arm wrestled the serious questions and then, in round two, the President won a two out of three thumbwrestling match. If the questions had been any more serious, he would have been willing to meet them in a cage match. Then we’d see who was the last man standing.”

General Petraeus was interviewed on Charlie Rose last night and it left me wondering if we have anyone on our general staff who is a strategic thinker, or who has any understanding of policy or the politics not simply of our country (because let’s face it that’s how he got his current job) but countries like Iraq.

Petraeus says he will leave the characterization of what is going on in Iraq as a civil war to the academics. As I have said many times before, sectarian strife and civil war are not the same and can not be addressed in the same ways. Sectarian conflict can be dealt with by strengthening the central government and pushing it to treat all groups fairly. This is the Bush/Petraeus approach to Iraq.

In a civil war, the central government and/or whichever side controls is a player in the civil conflict. Our strengthening it is not seen as promoting reconciliation but rather of choosing sides. This is what is really happening in Iraq.

See the difference? Well, General Petraeus doesn’t and that along with the fact that even with the surge he still has too few troops to change the dynamics of the situation or to provide for more security long term is why his strategy such as it is will fail.

Petraeus was also not above dinking around with the numbers. Rose cited his manual on insurgencies that Baghdad alone would need 100,000 troops. This number is actually low, the ratio used is 20 troops per 1000 inhabitants. Since Baghdad is a city of approx. 6 million, 120,000 would be needed under this formula. Petraeus replied that with Iraqi troops and police the number available was around 80,000. He fails to note that there are essentially no Iraqi troops that can function without considerable American aid and oversight. Or that the police are even more ineffective, corrupt, and affiliated with militias. And that even if these troops and police were up to standard, he would still need a 50% increase from what he has now to meet his own stated counterinsurgency requirements.

It all sounds like Petraeus is whistling past the graveyard and unfortunately drumming up business for it for the next several months.

I’ll leave the excellent comments to you guys and say what beautiful music this is. Thank You, it dissipates my anger and points to the heights us human beings can attain instead of all the fuckery, h/t Amy Winehouse, we are being served at present. Here is another beautiful piece, the first movement of a Bartok concerto for violin by Sylvia Marcovici.youtube link

Mr. Tenet says he decided to write the memoir in part because the infamous “slam dunk” episode had come to define his tenure at C.I.A.

He gives a detailed account of the episode, which occurred during an Oval Office meeting in December 2002 when the administration was preparing to make public its case for war against Iraq.

During the meeting, the deputy C.I.A. director, John McLaughlin, unveiled a draft of a proposed public presentation that left the group unimpressed. Mr. Tenet recalls that Mr. Bush suggested that they could “add punch” by bringing in lawyers trained to argue cases before a jury.

“I told the president that strengthening the public presentation was a ‘slam dunk,’ a phrase that was later taken completely out of context,” Mr. Tenet writes. “If I had simply said, ‘I’m sure we can do better,’ I wouldn’t be writing this chapter — or maybe even this book.”

I had heard somewhere that the “slam dunk” was used totally out of context. Tenet’s book sure to be a best seller.
If Judy Miller comes out with a book about her lies it will be only more lies. BOYCOTT ANY BOOK MILLER WRITES! She is a compulsive and dangerous liar!

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The euro climbed to an all-time high against the dollar Friday as weak U.S. growth figures reinforced fears of a widening economic disparity between Europe and the United States.

The surge will not be kind to Americans visiting Europe this summer, who will pay more for hotel rooms in Rome, entrance fees at the Louvre and chocolates in Belgium.

(snip)

I’m planning on visiting Europe this summer. Fortunately I can stay with relatives in France and Italy. It’s sad to say but when I’m in Europe I feel as if a burden is lifted and I can breath free.

Yes, Solomon is perfect for them. He has done the Administration’s bidding through his demonstrably false smear stories of Harry Reid and John Edwards. And then he turns around and plants on sloppy kiss on the AG’s office.

“The president did wrestle with those very serious questions,” Dan Bartlett said.

Bartlett went on to say, “First, he arm wrestled the serious questions and then, in round two, the President won a two out of three thumbwrestling match. If the questions had been any more serious, he would have been willing to meet them in a cage match. Then we’d see who was the last man standing.”

Then he took a nap before going on his bike ride.

For some odd reason, the WH thinks people actually believe in the Decider myth.

– Henry Waxman’s Government Oversight Committee has invited George Tenet to testify before the Committee on May 10th regarding the Niger/uranium claims and other blurred intelligence questions. (H/T to TiredFed for the link.) With a book to sell, this could get quite interesting from Tenet.

you know, way back when it was reported tenet said it was ” a slam dunk” regarding weapons of mass destruction that he was saying “it was a slam dunk that we can convince the public”

bush had said the public wouldn’t buy it and tenet said “it was a slam dunk”

cheney and bush trot out that quoate as if it means he said “it’s a slam dunk he has weapons” which is not what he meant

I beleive he is going to try to reclaim his honor and at the hearings he can go pretty far doing that

Kathleen, I agree with you completely. It’s imperative that we hold the feet of the MSM to the fire. Rather than have marches on the Mall in D.C. I think future demonstrations should be directed to the corporate offices of the NYT, WP, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN etc. Would they cover the story if a million people should up on their doorsteps?

“Polls now report that 70% of Americans believe that Iran posesses Nuclear weapons! This belief did not happen via osmosis.”

It’s really quite frustrating and sad to see how the American public is so easily manipulated. They are like marionettes dancing to whatever tune the regime and the MSM dictates. In a biography I’m reading on A. Hitler and the rise of the Nazi’s it struck me that Hitler’s popular support never averaged more than 30% for the country overall in 1933, the year he came to power. Why does that 30% figure stand out?

An if we do not hammer the MSM about not doing their fucking jobs (Matthews is on this issue). Moyers and all of us will be looking back asking why the hell did the media let these unsubstantiated claims be endlessly repeated about Iran.

not only does Iran have nuclear weapons but they have been nuking us since the late 50s.
that’s why all the kids had to crawl under the desks and cradle their heads in their arms.

goddamned persians. I’ve lost my entire extended family to their repeated (and thanks to the liberal media mostly unreported) unprovoked attacks on small town america

Antonin Dvorak is my favorite composer,so I had to point out to you, Christy, that his name doesn’t have a zed in it. (This from the guy who misspelled your name yesterday). My apologies again, in case you missed it yesterday.

What much of this is about is a rank, transparent effort to make liberal blogs radioactive to candidates. Journalists like Akers are threatened by the fact that candidates can communicate directly with large numbers of voters without having to go through Washington Post reporters. So they manufacture blog “controversies” by seeking out completely unrepresentative aberrations like Dan Gerstein and pretend that their individual comments are representative of large factions. In reality, people like Gerstein are totally irrelevant figures who represent literally nobody (except, in Gerstein’s case, non-Democrat Joe Lieberman).

Interesting quote. I’m sure that a lot of journalists like Akers are not only worried about how candidates can get their message to voters on blogs instead of via carefully-edited newspapers, they also are a little concerned that the connection between voters and candidates can be two-way in the blog world. What on earth is a newspaper like WaPo to do when it is seen as behind-the-times and when it cannot edit the message of politicians and selectively choose reader opinions to publish?

Oh, Christy, you’re so cultured! You make me feel like such a hick! Waitaminute, I am a hick!

Anyways, it’s Friday, for which I am thankful. I am also very thankful I discovered that “smart, sassy” blog “run by women,” known as FDL which has helped me maintain what modicum of sanity I have left?

PS – Guys, your contributions are invaluable also, but the WaPo chick (Mary Ann What’shername) apparently doesn’t know enough about FDL to realize that it has brilliant writers of both genders.)

What much of this is about is a rank, transparent effort to make liberal blogs radioactive to candidates. Journalists like Akers are threatened by the fact that candidates can communicate directly with large numbers of voters without having to go through Washington Post reporters. So they manufacture blog “controversies” by seeking out completely unrepresentative aberrations like Dan Gerstein and pretend that their individual comments are representative of large factions. In reality, people like Gerstein are totally irrelevant figures who represent literally nobody (except, in Gerstein’s case, non-Democrat Joe Lieberman).

Interesting quote. I’m sure that a lot of journalists like Akers are not only worried about how candidates can get their message to voters on blogs instead of via carefully-edited newspapers, they also are a little concerned that the connection between voters and candidates can be two-way in the blog world. What on earth is a newspaper like WaPo to do when it is seen as behind-the-times and when it cannot edit the message of politicians and selectively choose reader opinions to publish?

Remember that Israel and the PNAC/neocons?A**AC — which means wolfowitz/Perle/Kristol/Ledeen/Finkelstein A., which means in turn Bush and Cheney are drumming for more business. It will have to be Israel fighting its own wars this time, though, ‘cos the idiotish strategic mistake of thinking we could handle Iraq has left us unable to put boots down in Syria…… If Bush really does mean to attack Syria and Iran I hope the goons in the Pentagon have read a little about wars on two fronts, and have plans ready for staking over Venezuala and Nigeria since there will not be too much oil coming out of the Gulf once they have had their game.

Mabel’s Wig Shack at 133 — I was going to come up with alternate menus:

– Chili dogs and cheese fries.

– Onion Blossoms and tamale pie.

– Bean soup, cornbread and fried taters.

But it got too depressing. I love what my Granny used to call “regular, old grub” as much as the next person. But I was always taught that you treat guests with respect and raise the bar a little bit when you are entertaining them. And cheeseburgers just seemed to be so far from the “exceeds expectations” level of “company fixins” that I needed to make mention of it. SIGH

Did not watch the debates but I heard on NPR’s Day to Day that in regard to the 2002 war resolution vote Hillary repeated “if only I knew then what I know now” horseshit!

Senator Clinton this is going to sink your ship! Without a doubt!

If a soccer mom in southeastern Ohio simply by listening to the Diane Rehm show, BBC, C-Span and the internet could hear and read expert after expert questioning the validity of the intelligence and the wisdom of invading a country that had not attacked us.
Your “if only we knew then what we know now” is just not going to fly with folks.

When this “W”art on the presidency usurped office the dollar would buy about €1.20 and the price of a barrel of 710 was about $40.00. So those in the EU were paying about €60. a barrel of oil.

Today €1.00 will get $1.36 and if oil is arround $65 per barrel, those in the EU are paying €48. per barrel of oil. (I haven’t checked current oil prices but divide todays price by 1.36 to get current Euro cost.)

The cost of “lubricating” the economy fell for the EU in home terms while it has multiplied for those using $$$$. A rocket scientist isn’t needed to discern which economy is being helped or which is harmed by current neocon policy.

Does anyone know anything about the USA in the Southern district of NY, Michael Garcia? He just dropped the insider trading case against Bill Frist. I haven’t heard much about the Frist case, lately, until today.

DROPPED IT?

Are you sure? I thought he was supposed announce an indictment (not necessarily of Frist) this week. WTF?

OT, does anyone have an address for Randy “Duke” Cunningham. Would like to send him a greeting and ask how his government funded stay is coming along. Would also like to encourage him to hang in there because he’ll have lots of company in the not too distant future.

– MSNBC reports that President Bush is serving the Japanese Prime Minister cheeseburgers for lunch at Camp David today. No further comment required.

I’ll give him a pass on this one. Eleanor Roosevelt served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in ~1939 at Hyde Park. She wanted to give them an authentic American experience. The Republicans gave her a hard time for it.

Kathleen, I agree with you completely. It’s imperative that we hold the feet of the MSM to the fire. Rather than have marches on the Mall in D.C. I think future demonstrations should be directed to the corporate offices of the NYT, WP, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN etc. Would they cover the story if a million people should up on their doorsteps?

Yesterday we flagged an Associated Press story quoting Mitt Romney saying the following about Osama Bin Laden: “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.”

We noted yesterday that such a quote coming from a Democrat would have been broadly covered by the big news organizations and probably would have triggered a major outcry.

Curiously, though, Romney’s quote has been met with near-total silence.

A news search shows there hasn’t been any coverage of it beyond the original AP write-up yesterday, where the comment itself was buried towards the bottom of the piece.

There’s been almost no mention of it whatsoever in any of the places where one would expect such a thing to provoke outrage — that is, in the conservative media and blogosphere. There are no mentions of it on Power Line Blog, Town Hall, InsaPundit, Human Events, or notably the site of Hugh Hewitt, who has written a pro-Romney book.

Mabel’s Wig Shack at 133 — I was going to come up with alternate menus:

– Chili dogs and cheese fries.

– Onion Blossoms and tamale pie.

– Bean soup, cornbread and fried taters.

But it got too depressing. I love what my Granny used to call “regular, old grub” as much as the next person. But I was always taught that you treat guests with respect and raise the bar a little bit when you are entertaining them. And cheeseburgers just seemed to be so far from the “exceeds expectations” level of “company fixins” that I needed to make mention of it. SIGH

:-) yes. my grandmother would agree with your grandmother!
maybe the japanese prime minister can count his blessings he isn’t getting ’sloppy joes!!!’

– MSNBC reports that President Bush is serving the Japanese Prime Minister cheeseburgers for lunch at Camp David today. No further comment required.

I’ll give him a pass on this one. Eleanor Roosevelt served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in ~1939 at Hyde Park. She wanted to give them an authentic American experience. The Republicans gave her a hard time for it.

…and, I gotta say, there’s nothing like a gorgonzola burger and a nice glass of merlot….

Does anyone know anything about the USA in the Southern district of NY, Michael Garcia? He just dropped the insider trading case against Bill Frist. I haven’t heard much about the Frist case, lately, until today.

DROPPED IT?

Are you sure? I thought he was supposed announce an indictment (not necessarily of Frist) this week. WTF?

– MSNBC reports that President Bush is serving the Japanese Prime Minister cheeseburgers for lunch at Camp David today. No further comment required.

I’ll give him a pass on this one. Eleanor Roosevelt served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in ~1939 at Hyde Park. She wanted to give them an authentic American experience. The Republicans gave her a hard time for it.

I take my Russian guests to a fast food place and have them eat in the car while we drive, that’s the real American food experience. Usually they are horrified but sometimes they think it’s funny.

Remember that Israel and the PNAC/neocons?A**AC — which means wolfowitz/Perle/Kristol/Ledeen/Finkelstein A., which means in turn Bush and Cheney are drumming for more business. It will have to be Israel fighting its own wars this time, though, ‘cos the idiotish strategic mistake of thinking we could handle Iraq has left us unable to put boots down in Syria…… If Bush really does mean to attack Syria and Iran I hope the goons in the Pentagon have read a little about wars on two fronts, and have plans ready for staking over Venezuala and Nigeria since there will not be too much oil coming out of the Gulf once they have had their game.

What much of this is about is a rank, transparent effort to make liberal blogs radioactive to candidates. Journalists like Akers are threatened by the fact that candidates can communicate directly with large numbers of voters without having to go through Washington Post reporters. So they manufacture blog “controversies” by seeking out completely unrepresentative aberrations like Dan Gerstein and pretend that their individual comments are representative of large factions. In reality, people like Gerstein are totally irrelevant figures who represent literally nobody (except, in Gerstein’s case, non-Democrat Joe Lieberman).

Interesting quote. I’m sure that a lot of journalists like Akers are not only worried about how candidates can get their message to voters on blogs instead of via carefully-edited newspapers, they also are a little concerned that the connection between voters and candidates can be two-way in the blog world. What on earth is a newspaper like WaPo to do when it is seen as behind-the-times and when it cannot edit the message of politicians and selectively choose reader opinions to publish?

I am not bush shitting! At one point during the Libby trial I was sitting directly behind David Shuster, Micheal Isikoff, and David Corn. I heard Isikoff lean over to Corn and ask “do these bloggers have lives”. His sarcasm and disdain for blogs was oh so obvious. Someone brought up on a previous post that Akers is marrying Isikoff (is this a coincidence that Akers attacks Jane by comparing her to Jeff Gannon) Akers is a “sleuthy” gossip! She might want to think about writing about more substantial issues.

Also at a conference with hot shots in journalism at the Ohio University Scripps School of Journalism the talk was about blogs, lots of nervous laughter just like on some of the MSM about blogs a few years ago. The MSM is nervous and they should be.

What much of this is about is a rank, transparent effort to make liberal blogs radioactive to candidates. Journalists like Akers are threatened by the fact that candidates can communicate directly with large numbers of voters without having to go through Washington Post reporters. So they manufacture blog “controversies” by seeking out completely unrepresentative aberrations like Dan Gerstein and pretend that their individual comments are representative of large factions. In reality, people like Gerstein are totally irrelevant figures who represent literally nobody (except, in Gerstein’s case, non-Democrat Joe Lieberman).
————
Interesting quote. I’m sure that a lot of journalists like Akers are not only worried about how candidates can get their message to voters on blogs instead of via carefully-edited newspapers, they also are a little concerned that the connection between voters and candidates can be two-way in the blog world. What on earth is a newspaper like WaPo to do when it is seen as behind-the-times and when it cannot edit the message of politicians and selectively choose reader opinions to publish?
————
I am not bush shitting! At one point during the Libby trial I was sitting directly behind David Shuster, Micheal Isikoff, and David Corn. I heard Isikoff lean over to Corn and ask “do these bloggers have lives”. His sarcasm and disdain for blogs was oh so obvious. Someone brought up on a previous post that Akers is marrying Isikoff (is this a coincidence that Akers attacks Jane by comparing her to Jeff Gannon) Akers is a “sleuthy” gossip! She might want to think about writing about more substantial issues.

Also at a conference with hot shots in journalism at the Ohio University Scripps School of Journalism the talk was about blogs, lots of nervous laughter just like on some of the MSM about blogs a few years ago. The MSM is nervous and they should be.

Mabel’s Wig Shack at 133 — I was going to come up with alternate menus:

– Chili dogs and cheese fries.

– Onion Blossoms and tamale pie.

– Bean soup, cornbread and fried taters.

But it got too depressing. I love what my Granny used to call “regular, old grub” as much as the next person. But I was always taught that you treat guests with respect and raise the bar a little bit when you are entertaining them. And cheeseburgers just seemed to be so far from the “exceeds expectations” level of “company fixins” that I needed to make mention of it. SIGH

I’ll point out a more critical slight buried in the more obvious slight of excessively casual food prepared for an extremely important head of state from a global partner.

CHEESE.

Speaking as a person of Asian heritage, I can tell you I would think twice about serving milk products, particularly CHEESE. East Asian peoples have a much higher rate of lactose intolerance than other groups. Ugh, the very idea of a cheeseburger would make my dad bolt for Lactaid Extra Strength tablets — and I’d be running for the Pepto.

– MSNBC reports that President Bush is serving the Japanese Prime Minister cheeseburgers for lunch at Camp David today. No further comment required.

I’ll give him a pass on this one. Eleanor Roosevelt served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in ~1939 at Hyde Park. She wanted to give them an authentic American experience. The Republicans gave her a hard time for it.

I take my Russian guests to a fast food place and have them eat in the car while we drive, that’s the real American food experience. Usually they are horrified but sometimes they think it’s funny.

I remember being in Rome and looking in the glass windows of a BurgerKing and wondering………’why?’

OT: I just heard a clip on MSNBC with Bush talking about the Iraq funding bill. I find it downright fascinating at how he is trying to turn this into a bitter, personal fight. In the clip, he said something to the effect of this (paraphrased):

“the Democrats want to test my will”.

That’s how he’s trying to characterize a bill that provides funding for our troops with specific requirements for troop readiness, and triggers a withdrawal of this senseless occupation. He tries to make it personal, as if Democrats (and only Democrats… nevermind the Republicans who have called for a timetable for withdrawal) are just putting up this legislation as a personal “Go Cheney yourself” to Bush.

It strikes me that he has no further straws to grasp. The vast majority of the public isn’t buying the notion that passing this bill is irresponsible, nor that it doesn’t fund the troops. All he has left is to try and make it into a personal spat, as if the legislature is creating laws just to piss him off.

Tenet said the hardest part has been listening to Cheney and others repeat the phrase [slam dunk]. ‘I became campaign talk. I was a talking point. ‘Look at the idiot (who) told us and we decided to go to war.’ Well, let’s not be so disingenuous,’ he said.

I decided to take Tenet’s advice and would just like to point out that it took him 3 years and only after he wrote a book and had begun to flog it that he came up with his manufactured outrage, not you know while thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died. You see, George, I can see through disingenuous too.

When this “W”art on the presidency usurped office the dollar would buy about €1.20 and the price of a barrel of 710 was about $40.00. So those in the EU were paying about €60. a barrel of oil.

Today €1.00 will get $1.36 and if oil is arround $65 per barrel, those in the EU are paying €48. per barrel of oil. (I haven’t checked current oil prices but divide todays price by 1.36 to get current Euro cost.)

The cost of “lubricating” the economy fell for the EU in home terms while it has multiplied for those using $$$$. A rocket scientist isn’t needed to discern which economy is being helped or which is harmed by current neocon policy.

Yet, US oil companies will no doubt have another year of record profits. These are who Republics really serve. Why does anyone, outside of their wealthy constituents, allow themselves to be fooled into voting for any Republic?

– MSNBC reports that President Bush is serving the Japanese Prime Minister cheeseburgers for lunch at Camp David today. No further comment required.

I’ll give him a pass on this one. Eleanor Roosevelt served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in ~1939 at Hyde Park. She wanted to give them an authentic American experience. The Republicans gave her a hard time for it.

I take my Russian guests to a fast food place and have them eat in the car while we drive, that’s the real American food experience. Usually they are horrified but sometimes they think it’s funny.

Dante had a circle in hell, I think it was for the passionate, where they were blown and buffeted by the winds of those passions. I can see a similar fate for Tenet, Bremer, Franks, and actually quite a few other Republican politicians where the wind blowing them about is their own blowhard words and protestations.

Does anyone know anything about the USA in the Southern district of NY, Michael Garcia? He just dropped the insider trading case against Bill Frist. I haven’t heard much about the Frist case, lately, until today.

DROPPED IT?

Are you sure? I thought he was supposed announce an indictment (not necessarily of Frist) this week. WTF?

Speaking as a person of Asian heritage, I can tell you I would think twice about serving milk products, particularly CHEESE. East Asian peoples have a much higher rate of lactose intolerance than other groups. Ugh, the very idea of a cheeseburger would make my dad bolt for Lactaid Extra Strength tablets — and I’d be running for the Pepto.

I was wondering about that. None of my Asian friends seems to like cheese at all.

I’ve read that in Tenet’s whitewash of his role in the Iraq debacle he didn’t come clean about his dear leader either. In fact, he likes him and seems to have found a soul mate. Had he decided to tell the truth, the book might have been a best-seller. Nice to know he had lemonade with Powell on the latter’s patio but hemlock for both might have served the nation better.

Emily @ 157 – MSNBC reports that President Bush is serving the Japanese Prime Minister cheeseburgers for lunch at Camp David today. No further comment required.

I’ll give him a pass on this one. Eleanor Roosevelt served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in ~1939 at Hyde Park. She wanted to give them an authentic American experience. The Republicans gave her a hard time for it.
————egregious @ 166
I take my Russian guests to a fast food place and have them eat in the car while we drive, that’s the real American food experience. Usually they are horrified but sometimes they think it’s funny.
————Nate @ 188
I just toss em a bag of Cheetohs

You should let them drive, eat a McBurger and talk on their cell phone while driving 80 miles an hour and yelling at the kids! That’s America!

Michael Garcia, the former Immigration and Customs Enforcement assistant secretary, was so profoundly incompetent that this agency will welcome just about anyone to replace him. Julie Myers is a nuclear scientist compared to Garcia.

Garcia was so entrenched in immigration issues that he allowed the Customs investigative programs to fall apart. When he realized that he couldn’t fix what he broke, and that he knew nothing about drug, money laundering, export enforcement, counterfeiting and child porn investigations, he allowed other law enforcement agencies to pick up the slack. Customs investigations are now in danger of going to other agencies that are not going to give them the priority that they deserve. [ibid]

II) Michael Garcia is a lethally incompetent Bushie promoted into the USA for SDNY:

[snip]

Current ICE acting director John Clark once sent us an email saying that if we (the rank and file) were not happy in ICE, we should leave. What kind of message are they sending us now? That we should run screaming?

What is even worse is that Congress knows there are problems with [Julie Myers’] resume, yet lawmakers appear to be endorsing her anyway. Her qualifications are roughly the same as those of former ICE director Michael Garcia: widely regarded by ICE employees as weak and ineffective. Garcia established no real strategy for ICE, ensuring that four years after 9/11, the agency has no real counter-terrorism role. He did little to manage the transition that formed ICE, so that years after our creation, we are still not a coherent agency.

Judge Lewis Kaplan swiftly rejected a request by U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia to withdraw statements in a recent legal decision that were critical of prosecutors. Here’s Kaplan’s two-page order and today’s WSJ story by Laurie Cohen.

Judge Kaplan declined to make any substantive changes in his recent KPMG opinion, in which he ruled that it was unconstitutional for prosecutors to pressure companies to stop paying legal bills for indicted employees. The judge concluded that the feds gained an unfair advantage and violated due process of the 16 KPMG defendants by pressing the company to refuse to pay their legal fees.

[snip]

In yesterday’s order, Judge Kaplan underscored his feelings on the issue, writing that the policy “dutifully carried out” by the feds is “more than a disappointment — it is unconstitutional.” He also refused Garcia’s request to strike from the opinion the names of the federal prosecutors involved in the case.

Last year Jane and Christy and many fine talented folk on this blog devastated three term Sen Lieberman’s primary campaign. After 18 years in the Senate, his own party’s voters denied him the party’s nomination. His campaign – in which Gerstein played a key role – failed ignominiously.

The passionate citizens who reclaimed the Democratic party in CT from Joe and Dan included many fine folk from all walks of life who volunteered to help out.

Bless ‘em – I’m not in their league – but bless ‘em. I am not worthy – seriously.

Here at the Lake I “volunteer” with long wonky over-researched comments..often EPU’d, but occasionally useful.

How do I find the time:

Well, I’ve learned to read quickly – after university and professional school, I had four further years of specialty training and an additional eighteen months of fellowship training.

I try to save time by effective communication: years as clinical faculty and as a medical educator have helped me (not enough, but that’s another story).

And along with many other far more talented commenters here and our vary talented main writers, I offer technical skills (and over a decade of political/activism experience) which are assets to any national candidate seeking to embrace the progressive community.

I’m a single professional male in my mid 40’s. The cruelly unequal economy (you Rethugs have created since Reagan and we progressives work to destroy) means that – working half-time – my annual income is MORE THAN TWICE that of the average US family…and I make far less than I could.

I work half time in the public sector for far less than I would make in the private sector. Even then, my material life is fortunate – I rent a small home in a lovely area of one of the planet’s most storied cities.

Like every one else here, I can even fact check what you all and the MSM were too lazy or too craven to look at. As well as expose the connections you and the MSM are too deceitful to mention, much less research.

And still have time for hiking.

[And that’s why the FDL community and the progressives here so threaten you Rethug cheerleaders on the net, in your fetid little fascist training societies you call the Young Republicans, and at the Wapoo.]

And those capacities – collectively – are one reason sitting US Senators choose to visit this community.

Not ’cause of me – but ’cause of what all of here do together.

And still leave time for hiking, gardening cooking, and farmers’ markets.

Put me on the list of those with zero sympathy for George Tenet. If you’re going to get that upset about being tossed overboard, perhaps you should ask yourself why you were on that particular ship of fools to begin with. Oh, and give the damn medal back. Your rationalization that you got the medal for your work on terrorism as opposed to your work on Iraq is just nauseating. I’ll watch the “60 Minutes” clip, but I’m more interested in your under-oath testimony. I’ll pass on plunking down cash for the book, thank you very much.

He did ask for the 16 words be pulled out of the speech! I believe Hadley put them back in the speech.

I was wondering about that. None of my Asian friends seems to like cheese at all.

Don’t get me wrong, some East Asians love cheese and milk products like ice cream. (Bleu cheese on Cobb salad or a rare steak? Yum.) But it is miserable to digest if you’ve inherited the genes of people who do not raise cows for milk. And even within Asians, there are groups who have few problems with milk products — Mongolia’s nomadic peoples consume a lot of milk, for example. But why risk it?

I’d have found this more acceptable if they’d billed the menu as All-American steak; even hamburgers, if excessively and insultingly casual, would have been better than cheeseburgers. *Ulp.*

Dante had a circle in hell, I think it was for the passionate, where they were blown and buffeted by the winds of those passions. I can see a similar fate for Tenet, Bremer, Franks, and actually quite a few other Republican politicians where the wind blowing them about is their own blowhard words and protestations.

Second. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.

I think it is “Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate” (abandon all hope, you who enter). But I’m just picking nits. At least that is my memory from Italian 201.

In any case, Republicans deserve a place in Inferno all of their own, chained to electronic voting machines they have to drag around eternally.

Sad news about Slava Rostropovich. When I was about 11 yrs old I got a chance to meet him at a reception after his performance with the SF Symphony. I then had a chance to participate in a master class he taught — it was the highlight of my 10 years of cello playing. (I lapsed when I went off to college.) The only thing I remember about that workshop was how big Slava was. Not physically, although most grownups seemed pretty big to me, but in every other respect he filled the room. He was happy, opinionated, and intense, without being intimidating.

Kathleen, last nights CBS News with Couric led off with a story that Iran is much closer to having nukes than what was believed earlier. There was little documentation, hard evidence. After watching Moyers on Wednesday I thought to myself, here they go again!

this is a very dangerous time… bushco is going down and they’ll act like cornered rats … we have to watch the iran situation very carefully over the next months.

These unsubstantiated claims about Iran started being repeated just after the invasion of Iraq. Moyers better do his special on the Media and Iran before a pre-emptive strike not after. U.S. media Hind sight will be deadly for the Iranian people as it has been for the Iraqi people. We are safe in our bubble, waiting for the Iraqi oil. 650,ooo of Iraqi people are dead, I am sure hundreds of thousands have been injured, millions displaced, as Americans blog, make plans to bomb Iran, eat burgers, and discuss the news. Sick and perverted it is.

Landofthefree @148. The chimp has really developed a good case of the Hitlers. I doubt his party is going to be with him down to the last cyanide pill, however. The more he pouts, the further in the hole he puts ‘his’ party. Too bad about the extra deaths in Iraq, but that was never a concern. What matters is showing ’strength of will.’

Landofthefree @148. The chimp has really developed a good case of the Hitlers. I doubt his party is going to be with him down to the last cyanide pill, however. The more he pouts, the further in the hole he puts ‘his’ party. Too bad about the extra deaths in Iraq, but that was never a concern. What matters is showing ’strength of will.’

aipac knew this would keep this comment off th page. Thanks for allowing me to post such long comments. But I went back to 79 on contacting Moyers and I noticed that when those links are shortened that when you link and try to come back to post in exactly the same place it does not bring one back to the post.

Since it’s a news round-up – I hope this hasn’t been covered today – but the first quarter 2007 economic news is in-
Economic growth slowed to a near crawl of 1.3 percent in the first three months of 2007, the worst performance in four years. The main culprit: the housing slump. Core prices (this excludes gas and food) are up 2.2% and all prices are up 3.4%. Inflation is really rising here, folks. The Feds need to get a lot more worried about this than they are. Surprisingly, and I don’t understand how this happened, wages are UP 1.1%, the biggest rise since 2001.

For Shrub, eatin’ cheeseburgers is as Uhmurriken as cookin’ the books or stuffin’ in the ballot box; they just taste better.

Reminds me of a company I worked for, which arranged an important meeting with a member of the board of directors of Toyota. They picked him up at the airport in a Honda.

The Japanese might still imagine that they can pull our feet out of the fire (while they commercially put the rest of us in a frying pan). One of their prominent think tanks has the motto “Deus ex Machina”. Mr. Bush can only dream.

My father worked with a man – European ancestry – who was so intolerant of lactose that he couldn’t have commercial yogurt, only home-made (where the reaction runs, as they say in chemistry, to completion: no lactose left).

I’d consider serving burgers, cheese optional, at a casual lunch, even for important guests. Better yet, serve it as hamburger steaks, to eat with knife and fork.

Christy, you’ve made my day with this piece. Since childhood, I’ve loved Dvorak and I’d never heard Rostropovich perform the Cello Concerto. How sad to hear of his passing, though. He was such an eloquent artist.

Does anyone know anything about the USA in the Southern district of NY, Michael Garcia? He just dropped the insider trading case against Bill Frist. I haven’t heard much about the Frist case, lately, until today.

DROPPED IT?

Are you sure? I thought he was supposed announce an indictment (not necessarily of Frist) this week. WTF?

I am so confused.

Among the many reasons I despise my kitten torturing colleague is that puzzling out US Attorney’s Garcia’s “loyal Bushie” resume of servility and lethal ineptitude has now consumed over three hours of hiking time.

(I knew they’re all ecocidal bastards, but this is personal…/s)

Not to worry. When Comey left as US Attorney for SDNY to become Deputy AG, I’m sure Rove didn’t make a political appointment.

6/30. President Bush nominated Michael Garcia to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for the term of four years. If confirmed, he will replace James Comey, who is now the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice (DOJ). See, White House release.

And I despise the freakin’ WaPoo.

They learned NOTHING from freakin’ USA Taylor – IIRC – brought in from DOJ (or WH…as if there were a distinction) as USA for District of Columbia to give Griles the sweetheart deal.

Why am I doing the WaPoo’s fucking research?

Fancy pants Graham owes me a morning of hiking time – after the Oedipally conflicted little twerp gets done destroying the institution his mother built and loved.

What a hateful waste of human flesh – and a perfect mirror for Shrub.

Donald Graham and George W. Bush – cursed to hate and destroy what their most imposing parent most loved….

and never even know they are doing it..far less why.

[IIRC Graham even went about bulldozing the home and gardens his mother so loved.

Garden killer.

What a putz. Small wonder he protects a cat torturer - the core Rethugs hate the living world with a passion.

And they get in the way of my hiking and their rapacious timber rapers cut down our magical forests.

U.S. Attorney in New York Reaches
Non-Prosecution Deal With Royal Ahold

NEW YORK–Prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York announced Sept. 28 that they have reached a non-prosecution agreement with the Dutch food conglomerate Royal Ahold N.V. over an alleged scheme carried out by executives of the company’s U.S. subsidiary to inflate corporate earnings reports (United States v. Kaiser, S.D.N.Y., No. 04-CR-733, 9/25/06).

The agreement, contained in a Sept. 25 letter to counsel for Royal Ahold and its subsidiary, U.S. Foodservice Inc., frees the companies from the risk of criminal prosecution for their participation in the crimes alleged in a July 2004 indictment, (36 SRLR 1403, 8/2/04) and in a related Securities and Exchange Commission complaint. Also covered are false statements to the Defense Department or other U.S. agencies related to pricing of goods sold to them, which continues to be the subject of a civil investigation.

In today’s docu-dump, there are very few documents released. Two things I noticed:

1. One of the e-mails is to and from a ‘JCC’ but there is no listing for a JCC in the Abbreviations Index. Who is JCC?

2. All the docs listed on the Index of Withheld Documents are being held by KS. The listing for KS in the Abbreviations Index is Kyle Sampson. If KS is Kyle Sampson, what’s he doing with these documents.

jane … you’re a beautiful person … i didn’t mean that as a dig … i would manage you’re blog roll for free .. i have to say that smith person, irked me a little. He we bash bush for using fear and look what’s gonna happen if the dems affect the funding bill, and the minute someone says something that “she” interprets as citical of you .. she uses the cancer card … irked me!!!!

i have nothing but the greatest respect for this blog and what folks like you do for this damned country .. i am your fan!!!!!!!